-Caveat Lector-
>From www.wsws.org
> In essence, it proposes that Europe launch an international political
> offensive in order to isolate the US and assert its own global
> interests. This is fully in line with the intentions of European
> governments, and they make no qualms about it.
WSWS : News & Analysis : Europe
European foreign ministers attack Bush�s policy
By Peter Schwarz
15 February 2002
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Two weeks after President Bush�s State of the Union speech an open
conflict has erupted between the US and the European Union over
international policies. While at first only the European media voiced
somewhat muted criticism of Bush�s address, and politicians exercised
diplomatic restraint, now more and more leading European politicians
are sharply criticising US foreign policy, with the media following
suit.
European politicians have said they oppose the unilateral orientation
of US foreign policy, its one-sided emphasis on military means, its
support for Sharon in the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and
Bush�s threatening gestures against Iraq, Iran and North Korea.
On February 5, Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Piqu� became the first
high-ranking European politician to insist that the European Union
would continue its negotiations with Teheran despite the American
accusations against Iran. Spain is currently occupying the presidency
of the European Union.
Two days later, Piqu�s French opposite number, Hubert V�drine,
sharply denounced the unilateral approach taken by the Bush
administration. �We are currently threatened by a simplified approach
which reduces all problems of the world to the mere struggle against
terrorism,� he said in an interview with France Inter. �This is an
ill-considered conception which we cannot accept,� he declared, and
went on to say, �The Americans are acting on a unilateral basis,
without consulting anyone else, and their decisions are guided
exclusively by their own individual views and interests.�
Chris Patten, EU commissioner for foreign affairs, attacked Bush�s
line in a similar vein. In an interview with the British Guardian
newspaper published February 9, the former general secretary of the
British Tories and one-time governor of Hong Kong accused the US
government of an �absolutist and simplistic� stance towards the rest
of the world. It was time, he said, for European governments to speak
up and stop Washington before it goes into �unilateralist overdrive.�
He added, �Gulliver can�t go it alone, and I don�t think it�s helpful
if we regard ourselves as so Lilliputian that we can�t speak up and
say it.�
In Germany, Deputy Secretary of State Ludger Vollmer, referring to
the 1991 war in the Persian Gulf, accused Bush of using the fight
against terrorism as a pretext to �settle old accounts� with Iraq.
The spokesperson of the conservative Christian Democratic Union�s
parliamentary faction, Karl Lamers, commented in an interview with
the Spiegel magazine that he did not condone the �astonishing
silence� of the German government regarding the war preparations
against Iraq. �In the event of an escalation of the situation
followed by concrete preparations for an attack, the chancellor and
the foreign minister are obliged to speak out,� he said.
Last weekend, the foreign ministers of all 15 EU member states
assembled for an informal meeting in the Spanish town of C�ceres.
While no official decisions were taken, it was sufficiently clear
that all of them agreed, in one form or another, in their criticism
of the US. None of those attending opposed Patten�s harsh remarks.
Javier Solana, the high representative for EU foreign policy, joined
those cautioning the US against succumbing �to the dangers of global
unilateralism.� German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer criticised
Bush�s thesis of an �axis of evil�. This conception, he said, was
�not in accordance with our political ethos.� His French counterpart
V�drine regretted that �we now have to speak up loudly to make
ourselves heard.� And British Home Secretary Jack Straw spoke of
�differences of positions� between the US and the EU.
The EU foreign ministers were particularly concerned with the
situation in the Middle East. It was, Fischer said, �part and parcel
of European security.� Being an �immediate neighbour� to this region,
Europe could not afford to �idly stand by,� he said.
V�drine proposed a European peace initiative emphasising the speedy
recognition of a Palestinian state and early elections that would
strengthen Arafat�s position. However, his European colleagues were
sceptical. The US immediately rejected V�drine�s proposal as
�unhelpful.� In any event, the Europeans have no intention of giving
up their engagement in the Middle East. Jack Straw and Joschka
Fischer are visiting the region this week.
The eruption of sharp conflicts between the US and the European Union
does not come as a surprise, but points toward the real motivations
behind the �war against terror�. While the recent military operations
in Central Asia were triggered by the attacks of September 11, they
had been in preparation for at least 10 years, since the Gulf War.
What is at stake is control of the oil and gas resources in the Gulf
region and the Caspian basin.
The demise of the Soviet Union has deprived the transatlantic
alliance of its raison d��tre and created the prerequisites for a new
division of global power and influence among the major imperialist
nations. Europe and America, each of which makes up a third of the
global economy, are emerging as natural rivals. The ruling class in
Europe will not stand by as America establishes its military presence
and political domination in a region containing the largest energy
resources of the world�reserves that are indispensable for Europe�s
own economic survival.
Within just six months, the real issues at stake in this conflict
have emerged out of the dust and ruins of the World Trade Center.
Many European media outlets are now openly accusing the US of
imperialist ambitions. For example, on February 4 the national radio
program Deutschlandfunk accused the US of igniting a �geopolitical
powder keg� and �inadvertently turning into a de facto threat to
world peace�. The Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper spoke of George
Bush engaging in �sabre-rattling war rhetoric.�
According to the British Observer (February 10), the latest rise US
defence spending showed that �America at the beginning of the 21st
century is already not so much a superpower as a behemoth on the
world stage.� The newspaper continued: �Economically dominant, it
enjoys military and cultural power unrivalled since the days of the
Roman emperors.... Typically, it has been left to the French,
traditionally suspicious of US global hegemony, to find the best
words to describe it. Gigantisme militaire they call it, in a phrase
that describes both the scale of America�s ambitions and also a
pathological condition: an organism grown so large it is sick.�
The Observer went on to say: �The question the rest of the world is
asking itself is: Who is the enemy America is arming itself so
against? And why?� The answer was given by a British specialist on
issues of war and peace: �The war on terrorism is simply a euphemism
for extending US control in the world, whether by projecting force
through its carriers or building new military bases in central Asia.�
Much to the annoyance of the political elite, Europe is far behind
the US as far as military power is concerned. With the coming rise in
its military budget, the US plans to spend $379 billion on defence
this year, while all the other NATO states taken together will spend
merely $140 billion. The technological gap has widened over the past
decade. In those areas that are decisive for modern
warfare�reconnaissance, communication, high-tech-weapons and
mobility�the US equipment is an entire generation ahead, making it
virtually impossible for Europe to catch up.
In his interview with the Guardian quoted above, Chris Patten voiced
the Europeans� frustration over this state of affairs: �President
Bush has just announced a $48 billion increase in defence spending,�
he said. �Now, if you mark the significance of Europe�s relations
with America by how much we�re prepared to spend on defence, forget
it! We can�t even pay the entrance fee!
�There is not a political party in Europe,� he continued, �that would
campaign for a 14 percent increase in defence spending, which is what
it would take for the EU to match Mr. Bush.�
For the present, the European governments are trying to gain
international influence by posing as a peace-loving counterpole to a
bellicose US, and feigning concern over global inequality and
injustice.
�Frankly, smart bombs have their place, but smart development
assistance seems to me even more significant,� Patten said, and
pointed out that Europe provides 55 percent of development assistance
in the world and two thirds of grant aid. �So when it comes to what
the Americans call the �soft end of security��which I happen to think
is the hard end of security�we have a huge amount to contribute.�
This was the tenor of numerous statements by the European foreign
ministers assembled in C�rcares.
Significantly, it is above all the left-liberal press that has
pressured the European governments towards an international
diplomatic offensive against the US. Thus, the Frankfurter Rundschau
on February 11 suggested that the �unilateralism of the US� provided
�the Europeans with a chance to define more clearly and to strengthen
their own international policy.�
�The European position that the ongoing conflicts are complex, that
there is a connection between oppression, backwardness, poverty,
injustice, violence and terror, does not find an audience in
Washington these days,� the Rundschau wrote. Against this backdrop,
it was �in fact an advantage that the Americans, by going it alone,
are forcing the Europeans to clearly define the difference in
conceptions. Resignation or waiting for better times are not options
for the EU. It is too big for that, after all. If it does not make
use of the present situation in order to define and strengthen its
own international policy, this would signify a historical failure.�
The commentary warned of a �ruinous armaments race with the US� and
concluded with the remark: �The strength of Europe lies in its
distrust of simple solutions and military answers.... And if this can
be realised only by delineating ourselves from the US at the moment,
so be it.�
The pacifist and social-minded phraseology employed by the Rundschau
is deceptive. In essence, it proposes that Europe launch an
international political offensive in order to isolate the US and
assert its own global interests. This is fully in line with the
intentions of European governments, and they make no qualms about it.
French colonial policy, as a case in point, played a decisive role in
bringing about the mass slaughter in Rwanda. Likewise, German foreign
policy in Yugoslavia stirred up Croatian nationalism and created the
preconditions for the ensuing ethnic carnage.
Other voices in Europe still warn of any confrontation with the US.
The differences of opinion on the course to be taken cut straight
across the traditional political camps.
In Britain, the Tory opposition officially proposes to close ranks
with the Bush administration. Thus, shadow Defence Secretary Bernard
Jenkins accused Prime Minister Tony Blair, who straddles the fence
between Bush and his critics, of an appeasement policy towards
terrorism comparable to his predecessor Chamberlain�s position toward
Hitler. Great Britain�s traditional role as a �bridge� between the
continents is becoming untenable, given the growing gulf between
Europe and America.
The political differences on the continent are tactical in character.
For a long time, the foreign policy establishment placed its bets on
the more moderate wing of the American government around Secretary of
State Colin Powell and refrained from any sharp criticism so as to
avoid irritating the hawks around Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Now, however, there is growing agreement that an open conflict will
prove inevitable.
As far as the people of Europe are concerned, an offensive of
international European policy along these lines can only have
negative consequences. An imperialist military venture abroad would
be inseparably bound up with attacks on democratic and social rights
at home. This is evident from the sweeping attacks on civil rights
undertaken by all European governments in reaction to the events of
September 11. Neither does an international political offensive
constitute an alternative to a ruinous armaments race, as the
Rundschau claims. Both options complement one another, as
demonstrated by intensive European efforts to create an army
independent of the US.
There is only one alternative to the militarisation of international relations:
forging the unity of the European and American working class in a common struggle
against world imperialism and militarism and in defence of
their democratic rights and social gains.
Copyright 1998-2001
World Socialist Web Site
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